Astra's net profit up 12.5% on higher sales

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Publicly listed automotive producer and distributor PT Astra International announced on Friday that net profit in the first nine months of this year rose by 12.5 percent on higher demand of vehicles.

Astra said in a statement that amid more difficult trading conditions and rising interest rates, net profit rose to Rp 4.48 trillion (US$448.90 million) between January and September from Rp 3.98 trillion during the same period last year.

Its sales revenue surged by 48 percent to Rp 46.41 trillion from Rp 31.36 trillion.

"Astra performed well in the first nine months of 2005 and a satisfactory trading performance is expected for the rest of the year despite more challenging market conditions," president director Michael D. Ruslim said.

The company said underlying profit from the automotive business rose by 36 percent to Rp 2.7 trillion, benefiting from strong consumer demand for cars and motorcycles.

The country's overall market for cars grew by 26 percent to 439,804 units in the first nine months of this year, in which 203,864 of the units were Astra's. The figure was a 33 percent increase from the corresponding period last year.

Astra said the increase was due to high demand for its Toyota Avanza, Daihatsu Xenia and Toyota Kijang Innova.

In the motorcycle sector, the company recorded a 31.1 percent increase in the sales of its Honda brand to 2.01 million units. The country's overall motorcycle sales grew by 34.5 percent to 3.9 million units, excluding imports of assembled units.

The company also managed to record a 34.3 percent increase in spare parts sales to Rp 2.9 trillion.

In non-automotive businesses -- which comprise mainly financial services, heavy equipment and agribusiness -- Astra's underlying profit rose by 16 percent to Rp 1.8 trillion.

Profits from financial services grew in line with growth in the sector, the company said.